St. Louis patient’s family seeks answers

The family of Jack Beck tried for more than a year to find out who cut into him in the emergency room at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, MO. It's one of many questions they asked the hospital about his care, and one that remains in dispute. After initially rebuffing the inquiries, hospital administrators identified an emergency room physician, Teresa Blase, MD, as having made the surgical incision to drain an abdominal abscess. But the patient's wife and daughter, who were in the emergency room during the procedure, said the woman who wielded the scalpel appeared 10 years younger, taller, thinner, and not wearing a doctor's smock. The woman's hand shook as she made the incision, without anesthetic, they said. Then she said, "Oops, that's not supposed to happen," and left the room, according to Beck's wife, Donna, and 23-year-old daughter, Lauren.